A Taste of Heaven by Alexis Harrington Read Free Book Online Page A

tongue to wonder what that meant.
    “Tyler said you have a job here until we
leave for the trail drive to Miles City. The boys'll sure be glad
about it. After that, we'll have to play it by ear. He wants me to
find someone else to do the cookin', but I know I won't be able
to.”
    Libby wasn't sure if that was good news or
not.
    “Do you think you could cook out of a chuck
wagon, if you had to?”
    “Well, I don't—I've never—” Cook in a
wagon?
    He tipped a look at her that was almost a
smile. “The job pays the same as a top hand makes: room and board,
and twenty-five dollars a month. The crew draws their wages at the
end of the season.”
    She gaped at him. Twenty-five dollars! Mrs.
Brandauer had paid her only room and board, and two dollars a
month. At Christmas, she'd received a bar of perfumed soap, or
maybe a linen handkerchief.
    She had expected Tyler Hollins to be aloof.
She hadn't expected to find him so unlikable. But for that kind of
money, she'd figure out a way to manage.
    “I've never worked outside of a kitchen, Mr.
Channing, but I can certainly learn.”
    *~*~*
    Libby hurriedly flattened out more biscuit
dough with a rolling pin while keeping her eye on the simmering
gravy she'd concocted from the last of the bacon drippings. Her
confrontation with Mr. Hollins had left her badly shaken, but right
now, she was too busy to give it much thought.
    Though she'd been exhausted, the night passed
fitfully for her. Thinking about what she'd seen in the moonlit
hall had churned in her brain. After that, apprehension about
today, the strange surroundings, and her memories would not let her
sleep. Her apprehension, it appeared, had not been unfounded.
    She wasn't unaccustomed, though, to getting
up in the dark, long before the rest of the household was awake.
The chief difference in the Brandauer home was that the family had
rarely stirred before eight o'clock. At the Lodestar everyone rose
just shortly after she did and worked until she called them to
eat.
    Considering the fact that twelve men sat in
the kitchen behind her, except for the steady clink of silver on
the tin plates, she found it surprisingly quiet. If they'd eaten
quickly last night, this morning they practically inhaled their
food. The first shift had had their breakfast just twenty minutes
before and were already hard at work on the western range.
    Though she was kept busy pulling hot biscuits
from the big oven, stirring gravy and pouring coffee, she was very
aware of the absence of one man.
    “Doesn't Mr. Hollins eat breakfast?” Libby
asked when she stopped at Rory's place to fill his coffee cap. The
boy turned bright red, and she felt sorry for so embarrassing him.
In his haste to answer he gulped down a mouthful of biscuit nearly
whole. She swore she could see the big unchewed lump as it went
down his throat.
    “Oh, yes, ma'am, Miss Libby,” he said,
tipping his face up to look at her. “But he always takes his meals
in the dining room.” Rory inclined his head toward the closed door
that separated the kitchen from the rest of the house. Her eyes
followed the direction he indicated.
    Did that mean she was supposed to serve his
food to him in there? She imagined him sitting at the table on the
other side of this door, waiting impatiently for her to bring him a
plate.
    “Oh, dear,” she murmured, feeling no
enthusiasm. “I'd better get him something—”
    Rory shook his russet head emphatically. “No,
ma'am, no need to do that. Tyler doesn't like to be fussed over.
He'll be along when he's ready.”
    “Oh, but are you sure?” He was already
unhappy with her presence. If she didn't perform as he expected, or
wanted, it was plain that he'd have her delivered to Heavenly on a
moment's notice.
    She glanced around at the other men sitting
nearby, who'd paused for a moment at the mention of Hollins, their
forks and their jaws stilled. It certainly wasn't fear she saw in
their faces, but a kind of respectful wariness.
    “Mr. Hollins